I knew the minute that he saw my eyes. It was inevitable if he'd been paying attention in school, and obviously he had. The respect in his eyes was right there, clearly visible. His more human green eyes were much more compelling for me. Who gave a shit if I descended from one of the first families? At the end of the day, I was still just another shifter trying to get along in this world.

After he had his fill of checking out my wolf, I moved around his bulky bear body to check him out. The thick brown pelt was as expected. His paws had long sharp claws that I knew could be quite lethal if used correctly. I admired his pointy snout and fierce looking fangs, but the adorable little tail and round ears were just too cute.

I couldn't wait until I was around his bear in human form. I would curl up on his back and scratch behind those adorable little ears while he stretched out like a living bear rug for me.

I rubbed up against him, lifting my snout to lick under his chin. Then I ran out into the yard and ran in circles while he lumbered up behind me. After I'd let my wolf have his fun, I took control and we wandered off into the trees together as we'd planned.

After we got past the B&B and its prying eyes, Liam took over and pointed us toward our destination. I ran at my mate's side all the way to Jules house, proud to be beside my powerful alpha.

Jules' house back up to the mountain just as our place did. Our place. I liked the sound of that, I really did. Colin stepped out of the sliding door as we entered their yard. He was smiling and holding clothes.

We shifted and walked over to an intrigued Colin. He said: "Okay, I brought some sweats and tees out for you both. But first, I really need to tell you how amazing your eyes are! I saw that golden glow, and had to do a double take. I'm sorry if it's weird that I'm saying this to you."

I smiled patiently and pulled on the sweats he'd handed me. Not having to converse with my balls hanging free was always preferable. "It's cool, I'm used to people commenting the first time they see my eyes. Want to know something funny? I'd rather have human looking eyes like everyone else does in my wolf form. I've never been one to stand out. I'd rather blend into the background and be free to do as I please."

Jules stepped out right then, smiling as he walked over to kiss his mate on the cheek. "Colin noticed your glowing eyes, eh? I wondered how long you'd keep that secret up here." He took a sniff of the air, and smiled approvingly at Liam's and my matching claim scars.

He smiled enigmatically and said: "Well, I see that congratulations are in order. It's not every day that one of our kind meets their fated-mate. Come on inside, we have much to show you, and perhaps soon something to celebrate."

Colin and Jules went inside while Liam and I lingered for a kiss on the patio. We stood a hair’s breadth apart as he murmured softly: "Does it bother you? To have everyone comment on your fascinating eyes?"

I sighed. "It used to, but I'm used to it now. I'm the last of my line, so I suppose I should take pride in it more."

His lips curved against mine. "Hmm. About that, I should probably tell you some news. Jules wasn't talking about the mission when he said that we'd perhaps have something to celebrate soon. He was waiting for me to scent it. Fucking cat nose. All my life, we bears had that super power! Then the jaguars come to town and we are only second best sniffers now."

"Liam? Can you maybe get to the point soon? They're waiting for us inside." I didn't want to hurt his feelings, I just didn't see why a conversation about his and Jules' superior sense of smell had any relevance at the moment. I mean, unless they'd scented that I was… no. I looked up at my mated with widening eyes.

"Babe, Jules knows why I held you back. I want to share some news with you."

Shaking my head, I said: "No, really. Don't even suggest that I'm already..."

"Pregnant," he finished for me. "I can smell the change in your pheromones. And by the time we go to bed tonight, I'll hear the heartbeat. Or heartbeats, if we get more than one. I know that happens more often with you purebloods. So yeah, you're not the end of your line, babe."

I stood there staring at him, his words going through my ears but not really settling into my brain. I was still too shocked. Liam smiled hesitantly, his eyes filled with concern.

"Frankie? Talk to me, babe. You're scaring me right now. Are you okay with this? I mean, it's not like we have a choice, but I don't want you to feel pressured into any—"

I silenced him mid word when I flung my arms around his neck and attacked his mouth with my lips. After I kissed him soundly, I pulled back and smiled into his eyes.

"Of course, I'm happy! You're my mate! I'm thrilled to have our cub. Or pup, or whatever the hell we end up with here. I'm just stunned. I hadn't ever expected to have children, so this is a surprise. And you're right. This will be a continuation of my line, not that I care about that kind of shit. I just want to raise pretty babies with my gorgeous mate and to hell with what color eyes they have. I'll tell you this though," he stopped and grinned at me mischievously. "You already promised to take the baby duty. I'm on for the teen years, remember? I'm holding you to that, alpha."

Liam chuckled and pulled me in for another hug. "Oh, I remember all right. It will just be interesting to see if it ends up that way. I have a hard time seeing you let me do what the hell I want to do with our children without your input. Hell, I can't see me doing that either when it's my turn to sit back and let you do all the work. I'm pretty sure this is going to be side by side."

I nodded. "Yeah, but we both know that I'm going to be the one playing bad cop to your good. You'll never be able to be mean enough to break them if they're lying."

"Maybe I could threaten to put veggies in their cookies? If they know about it, that would be punishment maybe, wouldn't it?"

I looked at him suspiciously. "The fact that you just trotted that out without having to think twice tells me that I'm going to want to watch you when you're baking. You're one of those sneaky fuckers that hides spinach in brownies, aren't you!"

My cute alpha blushed and said hotly: "I also add carrots! They're so sweet you never miss the refined sugar or know about the added vitamins."

The sound of chuckling behind me told me that Jules had walked back out, I looked back and glared at him .

"Hey, don't give me that look! Just don't let him share that recipe with my Colin, that's all I ask."

Colin appeared in the doorway behind Jules, with Sean laughing in the background as he whispered into the jaguar shifter’s ear: "Who do you think gave Liam the recipe in the first place, pretty kitty?"

Jules paled at his words, which made me and Colin both crack up. Liam walked up and swung his arm around my shoulders. The mood was much lighter now, thankfully. He had obviously been worried for a minute there, since he honestly didn't know how I'd feel about being pregnant so soon.

Liam gave my shoulder a quick pat and passed me to give Jules a shove. "Get inside, you big goofball. I know you were just hanging around to see me tell my mate the news. Now quit worrying about our breeding abilities and show us what happened while we were gone today."

I loved how it was us and we with Liam, not him and me. I was so lucky to have found the perfect alpha for me.

Sean congratulated us, obviously having been filled in about the baby by his mates while we were outside talking. I was pleasant enough, but my mind was already on the mission. Liam smiled as I reached into the computer bag next to me and extracted a pair of glasses. As soon as I sat down in front of that monitor, the rest of the room faded away as I became laser focused on the task at hand.

It occurred to me though, as Liam watched me work that it was a good thing that he was a nurturing kind of alpha. Hell, I would probably get preoccupied by some bit of coding and forget to feet our cub if Liam wasn't around. No, I would stay out of his way and let him do his thing in the kitchen, and thank my lucky stars for it.

A few minutes later, shit got real when I found myself getting into a heated debate with Jules. Oh, hell. Okay. I could do this. Liam walked over and sat down beside me, probably to see what the hell we were having words about. Almost immediately I clued everyone in to the fact that Jules wanted to go in and get Yvonne, while I wanted to wait and observe.

"Jules. What if you jump the gun and rush in there but don't catch her? What then?"

"No offense, Frankie? But your job was to create statistical possibilities based on the intel you received. The military had the luxury of waiting while you eggheads farted around and made your fucking observations. My job was to go in and extract, detain, or fuck shit up after you finally got around to making a decision. Sometimes civilians died while you guys sat around with your thumb up your ass."

Colin watched us steadily while Sean sucked in a breath. Liam just shook his head.

"I do take offense, Jules. How dare you? You know damn well that I had to take orders the same as everyone else. We couldn't proceed until our officer told us that we were ready to proceed. Don't even put that shit on me, Jag, it's not fair to either of us. Now listen, I know how impotent you've been feeling through this whole thing."

I shook my head and paced behind the table before turning back to Jules. "But, Jag. Jumping forward to soon will just risk blowing the whole thing. When you do take her in, you need to make it look like a random event that happened because she was out in public. If she has anyone helping her that we may want to go after next, we can't let the cat out of the bag about the tracking. I'm not saying this to cover my own ass, I'm taking the long view here. It's not that I don't give a shit, it's just that I want it done right so that it sticks and this ends for once and for all."

Jules pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine. Let's compromise then. Once the cell tower is fixed and the area has full wireless capability, then I'm going on stakeout. The minute she leaves that wolf compound, I'm taking her down. Does that work for you?"

I pursed my lips and huffed out a breath through my nose as I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at Jules. "Fine. Do it however the fuck you want to do it. But if the shit goes sideways, remember who you have to blame, superstar."

The two of glared at each other a little longer, until one of us cracked. I really don't know for sure which of us it was. One moment we were glaring, and the next we were both laughing. Sean got up and made a pot of coffee while Colin walked out shaking his head and muttering something about checking on his cubs.